West Riding

I'll always be a "Wessie" (as a Scarborough-based friend refers to those who come from the West Riding of Yorkshire). Thank you for yesterday's comments. I'll try to write more later, difficult just now as we're travelling. This is the lane near my in-laws' home early this morning. I'm not not an early riser most of the time but the dog couldn't settle so I took her out just as the sun was coming up.

We've come north on a trip to Cumbria, calling in Yorkshire for a night to spend a little time with Gill's mum and dad and catching up with my sister and brother-in-law who had us all round for dinner. I haven't live in Dewsbury for 30 years and coming back always unlocks so many memories. As a child I'd come on a bus here to the fringes with my mother to pick blackberries. It's a short journey by car from the town centre but back then it felt like we'd travelled miles to the edge of my universe. In relative terms I guess we had. Back on the motorway this afternoon for a two-hour drive to Bampton near Penrith.